Apps to bounce emails back to selected senders

English Applications
1

I apologize in advance because this is quite a silly question… but I was wondering if there are any apps in Linux that allow messages to bounce back to the sender with a fake message saying the user does not exist or the email could not be delivered.

I have a stalker that keeps sending me disgusting emails on my primary gmail address, which I also use for work. He got my contact from a friend of mine (she was unaware he is mental i guess).
Needless to say I replied a few times demanding he’d stop his cr@p, first in a polite way then even with insults and threatening to go to the police (but he is in another country so that’s not a strategy I can use. Additionally in the country he lives - which is my native country - by law there is no restrain order unless there is first a personal attack and plus even in that case you have to get lawyers and pay lots of money for a court order).

Anyway, of course I already set up a filter in my gmail address that sends his cr@p right to the trash, and blocked him from any contact I have on the internet (Skype and Facebook). But I would like to pretend that my address does not exist any more or is not accepting emails any more by bouncing back a failure message so that this idi0t can stop once and for all.
This disgusting email flood has been going on for almost a year.

I googled and found 3 windows apps that do that ( Bounce Email Spam Messages Back to Spammers with Non-Delivery Notifications | Raymond.CC Blog ) but I have not been able to find anything for Linux.

Does anyone know of any way to have a failure email bouncing back?
Thanks in advance!!

2

On 2010-12-10 20:06, G0NZ0 wrote:
>
> I apologize in advance because this is quite a silly question… but I
> was wondering if there are any apps in Linux that allow messages to
> bounce back to the sender with a fake message saying the user does not
> exist or the email could not be delivered.

It is not a silly question.

But there is not a technical method to impede it, unless you are the
administrator of the email server and can change the rules, ie, add a
reject rule that forces the email to bounce with no address to reply to the
bounce. The email is in fact not even transmitted: the server sees the
request and rejects it. In fact, it is the sender’s mail server which has
to generate the bounce message, not your’s.

As a client user, you can do nothing unless the ISP has provided a means to
do the rejection for users (like: the user is in vacation). Any means you
have of rejection would be posted with your address, or with another
address. Or worse, with an identification header inside the email.

Indeed, you can activate the “on vacation” feature of gmail, but it is not
selective and it uses your address.

(A few years back it would be possible for users to anonymously
reject email. Currently, with the antispam measures it is not
possible: you are probably using a dynamic IP, no real chance
of sending email directly with postfix)

The only thing to do (and this is a social skill) is to ignore those emails
from the first one. If you reply just once it is even worse. For any kind
of unwanted email, never answer. It confirms to the /&%/&) that you are
there and you read his/her email.

The other thing to do is a change of address, and then apply the previous
paragraph next time :slight_smile:

Sorry.

Perhaps… just a wild idea. Get another account and use that
authentication to bounce messages. But if he is any clever, he will notice
they don’t come from gmail.

–
Cheers / Saludos,

Carlos E. R.
(from 11.2 x86_64 “Emerald” at Telcontar)

3

Many thanks for the helpful explanation Carlos!

Yes I regret I ever responded. Of course the first emails were completely normal, in particular questions about jobs and immigration procedures here in California. It’s almost always the case that sickos and weirdos appear as ordinary people at first glance.
In the past say 8 or 9 months I have not replied to any of his junk and for sure this would have stopped any normal person with a healthy mind. But guess what this sicko has even started stalking my sister on facebook and in person (she lives in his same town… where i also go back once a year to visit my parents. Last time i went home to visit them he was spying on us in front of our house and leaving paper messages on the windshield of our car).
Jeez, sometimes I think the brutal quote “some people are alive only because it’s illegal to shoot them” holds some truth in a few cases!!

Many thanks again for your reply! :slight_smile:

4

Hey Rossana,

Nice to see ya around. That story really sucks. Just wanted to offer my commiserations - I don’t have any words of wisdom though :wink:

5

Hey Carl! Thank you, yes indeed there is nothing that can be said or done in such circumstances other than be patient and ignore :slight_smile:
If this dork was here in the US he would not get away with stalking people randomly this way, but in a country like italy, the law is totally inexistent when it comes to protecting people. It truly seems the constitution over there was made to make life easy for delinquents of all kinds. No wonder crime of all types is the everyday norm in italy.

But I’m glad I wrote here because I have been googling for a while to find a way to send back fake failure messages, so at least now I understood this thing once and for all :slight_smile:

6

Rossana, i really dont believe that there is nothing you can do… legally speaking. Im sure the police can help you. I guess any problem is less important than solving with this animal, so changing your email address is the easiest way to get rid of him... Grrr... youve just increased my anger level.

7

Yeah maybe I should close my gmail account then wait some time and maybe open it again (it has been my primary address for the past 7 or 8 years so I am a bit reluctant but its surely a possibility).
I wish the law in italy was like in the US, then going to the police would help. But I know of people in italy who had much bigger problems and got seriously threatened (i mean threatened of being killed) and went to the police, just to be told that according to the italian law, nothing can be done unless something happens (verbal threats are not considered evidence, they need facts… yeah wait to be killed, then you go to the police… crazy!!!). I think this is one of the reasons why the wild personal revenge system is still alive in italy especially in the south. Since the law is useless, they often bypass it with some sort of eye-for-an-eye principle… sad and shameful that this kind of things still happen at all!

8

It couldn’t hurt to go to the police anyway. It would at least make them aware of your situation.

9

On Sat, 11 Dec 2010 04:06:01 +0530, G0NZ0
<G0NZ0@no-mx.forums.opensuse.org> wrote:

>
> Yeah maybe I should close my gmail account then wait some time and maybe
> open it again (it has been my primary address for the past 7 or 8 years
> so I am a bit reluctant but its surely a possibility).
> I wish the law in italy was like in the US, then going to the police
> would help. But I know of people in italy who had much bigger problems
> and got seriously threatened (i mean threatened of being killed) and
> went to the police, just to be told that according to the italian law,
> nothing can be done unless something happens (verbal threats are not
> considered evidence, they need facts… yeah wait to be killed, then you
> go to the police… crazy!!!). I think this is one of the reasons why the
> wild personal revenge system is still alive in italy especially in the
> south. Since the law is useless, they often bypass it with some sort of
> eye-for-an-eye principle… sad and shameful that this kind of things
> still happen at all!
>
>

i think in your case writing to google might help. you may not have enough
for a police case, but online co.s are pretty sensitive regarding abuse. i
have no unpleasant experience like this and don’t know what exactly they
could do, but blocking this individual from gmail altogether seems an easy
option. they block addresses because of spam reports, most of which won’t
be legally valid, but because they hate spam. i don’t think they like
online stalkers any better. i don’t even know their complaints address,
but it shouldn’t be difficult to find.

–
phani.

10

This is a great idea. Also, he usually writes from a gmail account (although he tried different accounts too including asking the sister to impersonate an old university class mate to send me email and facebook requests… what can sick minds do?!). But I think if Google could stop the flood from his primary account to my address that would be great. I’ll write them and post here if I get a response from Google.
Thanks for the suggestion!

In Italy unfortunately there would be nothing they can do since he never committed a crime that is considered a “fact” and in the US they could not do anything either since he is outside…

11

On 2010-12-10 23:51, phanisvara wrote:

> i think in your case writing to google might help. you may not have
> enough for a police case, but online co.s are pretty sensitive regarding
> abuse. i have no unpleasant experience like this and don’t know what
> exactly they could do, but blocking this individual from gmail
> altogether seems an easy option. they block addresses because of spam
> reports, most of which won’t be legally valid, but because they hate
> spam. i don’t think they like online stalkers any better. i don’t even
> know their complaints address, but it shouldn’t be difficult to find.

That’s a possibility. An ISP can do that, and even talk to the other ISP
asking for the cancellation of his address for abuse. Or maybe not, he
would change to another one. At least, they should know better than us what
to do, they should have experience.

–
Cheers / Saludos,

Carlos E. R.
(from 11.2 x86_64 “Emerald” at Telcontar)

12

On Sat, 11 Dec 2010 05:06:01 +0530, G0NZ0
<G0NZ0@no-mx.forums.opensuse.org> wrote:

>> It couldn’t hurt to go to the police anyway. It would at least make them
>> aware of your situation.
> In Italy unfortunately there would be nothing they can do since he
> never committed a crime that is considered a “fact” and in the US they
> could not do anything either since he is outside…

i’m no law expert, but i think it depends on what exactly he has been
writing. some things you can’t say w/o getting in trouble in the
‘civilized’ world.

–
phani.

13

G0NZ0 wrote:

> In Italy unfortunately there would be nothing they can do since he
> never committed a crime that is considered a “fact” and in the US they
> could not do anything either since he is outside…

Ever consider making friends with a nice Italian guy who has this “thing”
for kneecaps?

Otherwise, I’ve had some luck with written abuse complaints to his ISP/email
provider. This usually works best if you can round up some others, like
your sister, who can also make the same reports. This would be especially
helpful with Gmail - they get irritated when someone generates multiple
complaints.

–
Will Honea

14

G0NZ0 wrote:
> phanisvara;2264549 Wrote:
>> i think in your case writing to google might help.
> This is a great idea.

i’d say a nice (purely factual, non-emotional) note to google
<gmail-abuse@google.com> will probably solve your problem…

–
DenverD
CAVEAT: http://is.gd/bpoMD [posted via NNTP w/openSUSE 10.3]